Humanitarian and Human Rights Issues: Peace, Security and Development

andThe New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD)

T- Background: The Humanitarian and Human Rights landscape in Africa and its
impact on Peace, Security and Development

1.1. The magnitude of the humanitarian and human rights problems facing the African
continent seems at times overwhelming. While Africans constitute only 13 percent of the
global population, it is estimated that some 60 percent of the world's 20 to 25 million
internally displaced persons and about 30 percent of the world's 12.1 million refugees are to
be found in Africa. The total number of displaced on the continent therefore stands at some
17.1 million. This human tragedy is primarily the result of the numerous and often protracted
armed conflicts which plague many of Africa's countries and which also result in the
disruption of economic and social life, destruction of infrastructure and services, a breakdown
of democratic institutions and the rule of law, widespread abuses of human rights and a
population caught in a downward spiral of poverty.

1.2. Anned elements are often to be found among displaced populations, thus aggravating
further the atmosphere of instability and insecurity and posing a continuous threat of further
conflict. Refugees and other displaced persons become the victims of militia groups who
engage in theft, looting and generally using their arms to extort the limited humanitarian
assistanceprovided to them. Countries which are not themselves directly involved in conflict
are nevertheless affected; those hosting refugees tend to view them as unwelcome guests, as a
burden on their already overstretched infrastructure, as a threat to their country's peace and
security as well as to their relations with neighbouring states.

1.3. With social and economic development obstructed, generations of children are denied
accessto basic education, to health care and to family life. Many drift into a life of idleness,
drug abuse, criminality, prostitution, precocious pregnancies and disease. The future is even
more grim for the thousands conscripted as child soldiers or to serve as sex slaves or other
forms of labour for the fighting.

II. Peace,Security and Development:the Role ofthe UnitedNations under NEPAD

2.1. A reversalof the situationoutlinedaboverequiresenormouspolitical will and

resources.The sustainability of solutions for war-affected populations requires complex
humanitarianand developmentintervention as well as the collective efforts of the entire
internationalcommunity.

The NEPAD policy document does not include humanitarian and human rights
concerns among its priority areas. It does, however, appeal to African governments to make
every effort to find lasting solutions to existing conflicts. Any response to this appeal, if it is
to succeed, must also addressthe challenges posed by the absenceof the rule of law, the lack
of respect for fundamental human rights, as well as the problems of forcibly displaced
populations. In this respect, NEPAD does provide the scope for humanitarian and human
populations. In this respect, NEPAD does provide the scope for humanitarian and human
rights organisations, in collaboration with all other agencies of the United Nations and with
development partners, to contribute to its peace and security agenda.This possibility has been
continuously bolstered since the Annual Regional Consultations of October 2001 where a
cluster on 'Humanitarian and Human Rights Issues: Peace, Security and Development' was
successfully created.

2.2. The Sub-Committee on Peace and Security established by the Heads of State and
Government Implementation Committee under the Chairmanship of South Africa is charged
with giving priority attention to strengthening capacity in this area. In a communique issued at
the end of the Second Meeting of the NEPAD Implementing Committee, the Sub-Committee
was requested to focus, among other things, on support to post-conflict reconstruction and
development in all affected countries, including the rehabilitation of national infrastructure,
the population, including refugees and internally displaced persons, with special emphasis on
sustainableprogrammes of disarmament, demobilization and rehabilitation.

2.3. Considerable attention is focused on the United Nations and to the role it can play in
moving this agenda forward. In his summary of deliberations during the recent High-Level
Plenary Meeting of the General Assembly in New York, President Mbeki made several
references to the role of the United Nations and stressedthe need to respond creatively to the
goals relating to women and children, to refugees, returnees and internally displaced persons
in the plans and programmes to implement NEPAD.

How thencanthe United Nations family meettheseexpectations?

IlL Mobilising complementary technical expertise: possible collaborative action by the

United Nations System:

Agencies of the United Nations system have demonstrated readiness to mobilize in

support of NEPAD and to apply their varied technical expertise. Several have already
articulated priority areas and activities which could form the focus of collaborative action to
give concrete expressionto the NEPAD principles.

3.1. Respectfor fundamental human rights, the rule of law and good governance

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) underscores the
fact that no development is possible without true democracy and respect for human rights.
Consequently, the Office is committed to reinforcing the protection and promotion of human
rights and to integrating human rights in all aspectsof the development process. In pursuit of
these objectives, the OHCHR proposes support for the NEPAD implementation process
through a number of priority actions, namely:

i) implementation of the NEPAD commitments in accordance with regional and

international human rights standards and recommendations, including
facilitating linkages between relevant institutions to encourage harmonisation
of processesand resources;
ii) effectiveness and accountability of the African Peer Review Mechanism
(APRM) through the inclusion of human rights, adherenceto good governance
and the rule of law;

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 iii) support to the African Union and African Commisison on Human Rights and
People's Rights, sub-regional economic communities and their judicial
institutions;
iv) strengthen the role and capacity of civil society organizations to participate
effectively in the implementation of the human rights component ofNEPAD;
v conceptualization and implementation of post-conflict peace-building and
peace-keeping initiatives with a view to dealing with impunity and promoting
justice and reconciliation.

3.2. The rights of children and young people

UNICEF makes the case that the NEPAD aspirations can be most effectively achieved
by focusing on the development of Africa's human capacity -particularly that of children and
young people who make up more than half of the continent's population. The Organisation
also advancesthe persuasive argument that NEPAD's vision of long-term development needs
to be complemented by some measurable short-term results if it is to enjoy the support and
credibility of a people disappointed by the failed promises of earlier initiatives. For these
reasons,UNICEF proposes two specific areas for major collaborative action by the UN family
and which could be tackled on a 'fast track' basis. Theseare:

rolling back the HIV /AillS pandemic: HIV /AIDS is a survival issue for Africa,
and
accelerating girls' education as a prerequisite for Africa's development

These actions have the advantage of coinciding with those set out by the UN Secretary
General for priority attention by the UN Agencies. They also coincide with the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs) and with the priorities of a number of other UN Agencies, thus
enhancing the prospects for successful implementation. In the area of HIV /AIDS, a number of
specific activities have been proposed, among them:

i) breaking the wall of silence, stigma and shame around HIV /AillS to explicitly
recognize that HIV /AillS is the biggest single threat to economic survival and
social stability in Africa;
ii) prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV by rapidly expanding services to
women of child-bearing age;
iii) preventing the transmission of HIV /AIDS among young people, including
placing HIV /AillS prevention materials in all places where young people learn
and socialize;
iv) realizing the rights of orphans and other vulnerable children to a decent
standard of living, health care and schooling.

In the area of girls' education, UNICEF advocatesa short-run basic education

strategy, coupled with longer-tenn refonn of the sector, which would focus on lowering costs
and other barriers to the poorest children, and specifically girls. This, it argues, would help to
make good progress towards the MDG of eliminating gender disparity in basic education by
2005 as part of efforts to achieve universal primary education by 2015. These priorities could
also fonn a key part of national development strategies within the NEP AD framework and
could be implemented by utilizing available delivery systems. At the same time they would

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allow African leaders to concretely demonstrate and accelerate their commitment to improve
the lives of children. Some of the activities proposed under this priority are:

i) rapidly advancing to promote free and compulsory primary education for both
girls and boys;
ii) put learning before the lack of a uniform. Ways must be found to prevent
uniforms becoming a barrier to learning for children from the poorest families
or who have lost parents;
iii) provision of mid-day-meals in all schools;
iv) supplement the drive towards universal education with complementary
educational initiatives for young people who have missed out on schooling.

UNICEF further proposes working with NEPAD and with other UN Agencies to
develop benchmarks, based on its own national performance gap analysis -which could be
integrated into the African Peer Review mechanism (APRM) to monitor and measure the
performance of statestowards their children.

3.3. The reintegration of displacedpopulations: refugees, returnees, internally displaced

persons (IDPs) and ex combatants

NEPAD identifies peace, security, democracy and good governance as essential

prerequisites for sustainable development. It is however obvious that these objectives cannot
be achieved without an inclusive approach being adopted to the problems of refugees,
returnees, internally displaced persons and ex combatants. These groups represent the most
visible consequences of conflict and their presence in any country or region carries the
potential for continued instability, insecurity and even recurring bouts of conflict.

UNHCR is specifically mandated to seek durable solutions to the problems of

refugees. While voluntary repatriation remains the most sought after durable solution for the
overwhelming majority of refugees, their return cannot be undertaken in isolation from that of
other displaced populations. Neither can return to a community whose infrastructure and basic
services have been devastated by conflict be pursued in isolation from other development
initiatives or by any single agency. The transition from war to peace is a complex and long-
term process which requires a concerted and sustained effort on the part of all concerned: the
affected populations, multilateral and bi-laterial development actors and donors and the
humanitarian community, with the national government taking a firm lead.

UNHCR has consistently advocateda four-pronged approach which focuses on

bridging the gap betweenhumanitarianrelief and developmentassistanceby linking the
repatriation,reintegration,rehabilitationand reconstructionprocesses.This strategyenvisages
the collective effort of different agencieswith eachtaking the lead at different stagesof
implementation,accordingto their particularmandateand complementaryskills. The overall
goal would be national recovery which would in turn contribute to the consolidationof
durablepeaceand stabilityand lay the foundationsfor longer-termdevelopment.

The following are therefore proposed as activities around which the United Nations
and its development partners could mobilize to ensure a better transition from conflict to
sustainable development and peace in those societies emerging from conflict:

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 i) establishment by the UN, together with its development partners, of
appropriateinstitutional arrangements
within which to review andtake stockof
the needs and to plan and implement a comprehensiveand integrated
programmefor post-conflictreconstructionandsustainabledevelopment;

ii) ensure that the needs of all returnee populations are fully integrated into
national reconstruction and development plans and provide support to the
national government for the reconstruction and rehabilitation of infrastructure
such as roads, housing, schools, clinics and the re-establishment of basic
servIces;

iii) rehabilitate and strengthen civil administration and judicial institutions to

ensure the availability of constitutional and legal means necessary to settle
differences non-violently and to ensure that all persons, especially returnees,
are able to regain and enjoy their fundamental rights;

iv) re-establishand strengthenthrough training and other meansa credible law

enforcementapparatusaspart of the confidencebuilding mechanisms;

v) put in place and promote measuresto bring about meaningful changes such as
communal reconciliation and cohabitation; build the capacity of those with the
potential to become catalysts for change -in particular women;

vi) promote ownership of communities in the reconstruction process through

equitable and inclusive economic activity, thereby underscoring the positive
nature of peace as opposedto the negatives of conflict;

vii) ensure an effective programme of disamlament and demobilization of ex

combatants and complement this with counselling, skills training and income
generating activities to ensure the effective and productive reintegration of this
group into the society.

Development through local integration

The need for a co-ordinatedresponseto the needsof refugeesand other displaced

personsfor whom the prospectof return is not a realistic option in the foreseeablefuture is
equallycritical. Failure to addressissuesof durablesolutions for thesegroups often leadsto
new conflicts and the generationof furtheroutflows of refugees,thus putting addedstrain on
the socio-economicresourcesof hostcommunitiesaswell asof donors.

An approach which integrates the needs of long-standing refugee populations into the
national planning and development agenda must be based on the understanding that if
empowered to become self-reliant, refugees and illPs could contribute positively to the
development of their host communities. Self-reliance means that they would be less
dependent on emergency and care and maintenance assistance and instead would be better
prepared for longer-term durable solutions. Such programmes would have the added value of
addressing poverty reduction and the empowerment of the receiving communities, through
community based development programmes. In this way, the potential for conflict arising

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3.4.
from any disparity in living standardsbetweenthe two populationswould be removedand
conditionsfor peacefulco-existencecreated.

4. Mobilising the necessary resources: partnerships with donors and other financial
institutions

4.1. Underthe leadershipandguidanceof the UN SecretaryGeneral,collaboration

betweenthe Bretlon Woodsinstitutionsandthe United Nationshavebeengoing from
strengthto strength.The achievementsof the InternationalConferenceon Financingfor
Development,organizedby the UN andheld in Mexico in 2002 with the active participation
of both the World Bank andthe IMF, is oneclear exampleof this.

4.2. In the contextofNEPAD, theseinstitutionsaswell as otherdonorgroupshave

likewise demonstrated tremendoussupportfor the NEPAD agenda.The International
MonetaryFund, for example,hasmadeclearits commitmentto help in the mobilizationof
resourcesin supportof country-ledpovertyreductionstrategiesthroughdonorcoordination.
The Fundhasalso undertakento provide critically neededsupportandadditionalresources
for the specialcaseof post-conflictcountriesin orderto rebuild physicalandhuman
resources,key institutionsandhumanitarianandeconomicrecovery.

4.3. The World Bank too has articulated specific areasof support to NEPAD which include
regional infrastructure projects, agriculture, HIV/AIDS, education, health and strengthening
the capacity of the regional economic communities. The Bank is also committed to facilitating
NEPAD's dialogue with other development partners and to providing support for its technical
planning and programming. Elsewhere, the World Bank, in collaboration with UNDP and
other partners, has been instrumental in supporting the conceptualization and implementation
of programmes for the disarmamentand demobilization of former combatants, and for their
productive reintegration into their communities. The critical importance of this programme
for the peace and security agenda ofNEP AD cannot be over-emphasized.

4.4. In their initial responseto NEPAD, the G8 Group of countries have fomlulated some
112 specific activities under their Plan of Action for Africa designed to build new
partnerships and lay the foundations for future co-operation based on mutual responsibility
and respect. The response outlines a number of priority areas to which G8 governments are
committed 'to mobilize and energize global action, marshal resources and expertise, and
provide impetus in support of the NEPAD's objectives'. Several of the G8 priority areasalso
coincide with those priority areasoutlined by U N agencies,among them:

supporting African efforts to resolve anned conflicts, including assistance with

programmes of disannarnent, demobilization and reintegration;
providing effective peace-building support to societies emerging from or seeking
to prevent conflict;
enhance the capacity of African countries to protect and assist war-affected
populations, including support to African countries hosting, assisting and
protecting large refugee populations;
action to combat HIV/AIDS;
supporting human rights activities and national, regional and sub-regional human
rights institutions in Africa;

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 support efforts to improve the quality of education, and
fostering economic growth and sustainabledevelopment.

4.5. It is essential for the United Nations Agencies to forge meaningful partnerships with
funding institutions and other donors in order to ensurethe availability of adequate,
predictable and flexible resourcesto meet the needs of the transitional process in post conflict
societies.

Moving the peaceand security agendaforward

5.1. EnonIlous commitment and goodwill which exists within the international community
to provide the support necessaryto implement the peace and security agenda under NEPAD.
The challenge for the United Nations Agencies is to harness this commitment and goodwill
and direct it towards the joint fonIlulation and implementation of an integrated programme
which will addressthe humanitarian and human rights needs and bring about peace, stability
and socio-economy recovery in war-tom societies. In more practical tenIls, the establishment
of appropriate mechanisms for joint needs assessment, programming and resource
mobilization presentsthe more immediate challenge.

Someuseful lessonsmight be drawn from the 'ZambianInitiative' which is currently

being implemented.A government-ledandUNHCR-supportedplan, the Initiative is a holistic
approachwhich aimsto build on the positive aspectof refugeesby including themin attempts
to alleviate poverty in the hosting areas.It does so by co-ordinatingthe efforts of donors,
linking relief and developmentassistance,addressingthe needs of refugeesand the host
populationand therebycontributingto peaceand stability in the areastargeted.

5.2. The initiative was preceded by a joint assessmentmission comprising donor agencies,
government line ministry officials and UN agencies. Programmes identified jointly with the
government and the local community include projects in the field of agriculture, health
(HIV/AIDS programmes, training, maternity wards, rural health centres), education (schools
and vocational training centres, materials and teachers) and infrastructure (water and
sanitation, roads). The wide range of donors involved have agreed among themselves the
particular projects which each will fund. In addition to playing the lead role, the Government
has allocated more land to facilitate implementation and plans to introduce legislation to
allow long-staying refugees to apply for citizenship.

6. Recommendations

The priority areas and activities outlined above provide ample scope for United
Nations Agencies to collaborate and contribute towards the realization of the NEP AD
principles as well as the MDGs. A programme which focuses on post-conflict reconstruction
offers the opportunity for each agency to contribute based on its particular mandate and
expertise, whether it be in the field of human rights, addressing the special needs of children
and women affected by conflict, health, education, promoting durable solutions for the
problems of refugees, returnees, internally displaced persons and ex combatants, or building
capacity to address the above issues.
A complementary priority might be to focus on reinforcing continental and regional

5.
mechanisms for conflict prevention, management and resolution. The following
recommendations
areproposedasinitial stepsin the collaborativeprocess:

i) A joint technical committee to be established, comprising representatives from

each concerned agency, funding institutions, the AU and NEPAD Sub-
Committee on Peaceand Security;
ii) Terms of reference for such Committee to include:
-development of criteria for identifying post-conflict countries to be targeted
for UN collaborative programmes;
-undertaking needs assessmentsto determine the critical needs of specific
post-conflict situations;
-formulate appropriate recovery strategiesbased on findings, and
-develop planning tools and operational modalities, including a joint UN
programming mechanism and propose the division of labour among the
various actors in respectof the different stagesof implementation.

While the above-mentioned Technical Committee will have a regional mandate, it is

important that consideration is given to translating such programmes at the national level to
ensure their integration into national development plans. The full utilization of existing
mechanisms such as the PRSP and UNDAF will need to be fully explored.